Imbolc is a sabbat which some celebrate to welcome the Celtic goddess Brighid, a deity of fire and fertility. Imbolc can also be celebrated as winter gradually coming to a close with the days getting longer, and the seasonal and agricultural implications of that. Either way, it is a festival of light and new beginnings, and is celebrated with fire and joy.
Before Imbolc – A time for resting
- Do not make new plans
- Sleep as much as possible
- Take care of your body
- Take hot baths and moisturize your skin
Arts & Crafts
- Brighid rules art and creativity – do anything artistic! Your creative skills are at a peak this time of year. If you’ve been in a rut, now is a good time to do some self-cleansing and bring yourself out of it.
- Decorate a candle with spring leaves and flowers
- Make a Brighid’s bed
- Make a Brighid’s cross
- Make a Brighid mantle out of a green cloth long enough to wrap around your shoulders. Leave it on your doorstep on the night of Imbolc and Brighid will bless it for you. In the morning, wrap yourself in the mantle to feel her healing energy.
- Make Brighid wheels and hang them on or above your door
- Make a corn doll
- Make a priapic (acorn-tipped) wand
- Make a sun-catcher
- Make ice candles
- Make paper snowflakes and hang them around your home
- Write a poem about spring
Cleaning & Cleansing
- Clean off your altar and redo it
- Clean your home
- Consecrate tools that will be consumed throughout the year (candles, incense, ritual tools, etc. that you plant to use for spell casting)
- Consecrate your agricultural tools
- If you do not feel ready to charge or consecrate your own tools, leave them with an offering in a windowsill to be blessed by your deity overnight
- Rearrange the furniture in your home.
- Refresh any crystal grids or salt lines around your home.
Cooking
- Make braided bread
- Make your own butter
Use milk in your cooking to represent spring lambing
Decorating
- Place a besom at the front door to symbolize purification and cleansing
- Put a grain effigy and a phallic wand in a basket next to the hearth or candles at night to welcome Brighid
- Remove Yuletide greens and burn or dispose of them (make sure your greens are safe to burn and always practice fire safety)
Spell-casting & Divination
- Dip a ribbon into a natural body of water (or moon water, if there is no natural water near you) and tie it to a branch in your yard to welcome hope and healing
- Dismantle old spells (jars, talismans, etc) and use what remains to charge new spells. The recycled energy will make the new spells even stronger.
- Explore some love or fertility magic
- Healing spells are extra powerful this month. Before or during Imbolc when the moon is waning, take time to banish or release any illnesses affecting your or your loved ones. Afterwards, when the moon is waxing, perform spells to draw in healing energies.
- Practice lithomancy
Take time to focus on divination and increasing your own magical abilities
- Use your priapic wand in your garden to awaken trees and plants from their winter slumber
Other Activities
- Go out to a local park or forest and pick up litter to help make way for new spring growth
- Light candles in your garden to purify and invigorate them for the coming growing season
- Pour some milk onto the earth as an offering and ask that the coming year brings you what you need
- Prepare homemade remedies to use through the rest of the year
- Put out bread, milk, grains and/or seeds for Brighid on Her eve
- Visit a lake, stream or other body of water and go for a swim (or meditate if it’s too cold for that!)
- Welcome the sun by lighting a candle (or all your candles!) at sunrise and/or sunset
After Imbolc – A time for cleansing
- Clean the home and prepare for spring
- Do a body cleanse
Open windows to let in fresh air
Rearrange your furniture
- Replace your home air filters
- Throw away old belongings
Imbolc Practices
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Water Witches 